Santa Barbara City College
Committee on Teaching and Learning
Minutes
March 26, 2007
3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Present: S. Brewer (Ed. Sup.), A. Cruse (Eng.), M. Ferrer (FPDC, FRC), K. Neufeld (Library), G. Lewin (Chair), E. McCabe (Health/Human Srvc.), P. Nunez (ESL/FL/Ed.), N. Mahaffey, for J. Pike (LSS), J. Simpson (Sci.), C. Solberg (Soc. Sci.), M. Spaventa (Administrative Liaison), N. Warner (F. Arts)
Excused: D. Budke (Tech.), P. Guenther (Math), D. Montgomery (Student Senate)

Scott Brewer: “Using Pipeline to Expand Impact of On-Campus Courses & Teach Student Success Principles”
Scott teaches a PD 100, College Success, and he’s used Pipeline since the beginning. Its various tools expand the impact beyond the 3 hours he has with them a week. Only about 20-30% use Pipeline, even though we’ve invested lots of money in it. Nina said the SLO project showed her the value of Pipeline, and now she posts the rubric. Jodi said that many of the people in Sciences have all their classes online through individual webpages. That is a giant chunk not in the statistics. Pat said originally Pipeline did not have many options, and its upgrade to Luminous included many new choices. New training is happening now, and Scott explained that the new Pipeline will be how we access Banner. It has become more present.

The committee members were given handouts of Pipeline screens for Scott’s class. Included were spots for photos, announcements, calendar (keeps people up on assignments, time management tools built in), chat room (which he uses for office hours and his tutor helps with that), message board (practical ways to post questions about the chapter, students respond). Scott showed an example of what used to be a journal that originally only he read; now he posts it on the message board so others can read it, and people can learn from each other. Students have their own message board. It builds a team community; students organize study sessions. He is able to post documents for the class, handouts, PPT presentations, final exam portfolio, and so on. It makes it very easy for students to access. Evan said she uses it for all her assignments. Another option is the ability to post course links. He uses this for quizzes, Webgrade, etc.

Evan said she uses it, as all the nurses do, but she has found a stumbling block with Pipeline in that she cannot prepare and post things until school starts, and it does not carry over what she posted from the previous semester. Scott said he could pass this on. Kenley recommended passing it to Jason Walker. He said he sits on three computer committees and has never heard about this before. Evan said it takes her four hours to post all her links.

Mark Ferrer suggested using Vista rather than Pipeline. It has more capability to keep links and roll course material over each semester. It is appropriate for faculty members who have a big web presence. You can update it from home in your own time. It takes time to learn how to use it. Marilynn said we have training capability problems. These two don’t work together. Pipeline has to be cleared out again and get it ready for new courses. Jason may not have a lot leeway to solve these difficulties. Kenley thinks some of these things may change with the new Banner system. Now they have to import three things into Pipeline manually, and now they are writing scripts to automate these functions in Banner.

Evan said some students don’t register for classes sometimes until they go into the hospital. Kenley said you should be able to go in and modify the course area. Marilynn said there should be a solution to making the tool fit faculty schedules; this needs to be addressed. We will be moving to a dedicated server for Vista; now we are working on the contract. Vista is very expensive. Mark said we can invite Jason to this committee.

Jodi described her class page as having all these things, except a discussion board. Scott noted that the message board allows everyone to participate whereas in a large class, often discussion is dominated by a couple of students who are articulate. Anita thinks you lose the power of the group on a message board and prefers to have discussion in person. Jodi added that she uses clickers for interaction and immediate feedback so students are all engaged. Marilynn commented that the discipline has a lot to do which tool you choose.

Mark said you can add this on to lecture classes using the discussion component of Pipeline. Quiet, articulate voices can come forward in Pipeline, several noted.

“Another function in Pipeline is the Groups Tool”, explained Kenley. He can see three sections reading the same novel. The instructor is able to create a group so all the sections can talk about the novel, and it enriches the discussion. He has learned to wait to reply, and students fill in what he used to do.

Marilynn told a story about an instructor who was ill and could not post the question on Monday as she usually did, and her students filled it in by themselves. Pat wants to have Level 5 ESL students communicating with English 80 students, and this would work for her.

Scott really likes his office hours to take place on the message board, and he’s found it works best if they are held in the early evening when most students are working. There is also a whisper function; e.g., if a student asks a question about a grade, only the instructor sees it. Students can whisper to each other too. Mark said the only negative thing people say, besides that it is a bit chaotic, has to do with the synchronicity of the responses. Someone whose time schedule prevents him from getting to the chat room when everyone else is typing may post a comment about something that was posted much earlier.

Anita said she really likes that you can differentiate instruction more, which is really important to students. If you have a reader or tutor, they can work in the chat room too. Tutors or aides refer student to the instructor when needed.

Personal, Social and Ethical Responsibility
Gerry discussed the history behind the current PSS initiatives that CTL is monitoring, the importance of the idea of responsibility, and how we have discussed it. Student responsibility was a big topic during the 2005 discussion on the obstacles to student success, and Nina, Jodi and Scott did an awesome job in laying out these ideas under the category of “College Culture, Personal Responsibility and Motivation”.

When the Task Force put the list of priorities for the solutions together, the wording that seems to relate to this area was “develop shared expectations of student behavior and academic standards”, although it is probably assumed to be addressed in all the programs we are monitoring. In our last meeting, we talked about student potential, responsibility and accountability. Mark listed ethical responsibility in his research on SLOs (Fall ’06 presentation). Personal responsibility was listed in our committees’ work on the student obstacles. Civic responsibility and personal responsibility can be seen as different topics, but if we think of the Platonic notion of the individual, they are related. The highest ideal in The Republic is justice, which comes about from individuals having a balance of the intellectual (whose virtue is wisdom), the spirited (or the courageous), and the appetitive nature (which relates to the virtue of temperance). Responsibility is a relevant topic in light of the recent killing on State and Carrillo (involving teens). How are these PSS initiatives including or embodying a concern with responsibility? Do they assume it?

Nina said it is a good question; it was important in the beginning of the Student Success Initiatives. Is it good enough to assume it is being integrated? Mark’s original document was a guide to evaluating institutions’ standards for SLOs. A section in there was on personal and ethical responsibility, and some institutions have written it in. (Mark will send the document out again.)

Mark said Richard Dreyfuss went to Oxford and got a Masters degree in Public Responsibility. He spoke on a talk show so eloquently about Civics and that the responsibility to teach this lies with the populace. Ann Fryslie recently asked Scott where civic responsibility is taught in the PD 100 curriculum. Kenley added that he teaches ethical responsibility in his classes because it is critical when dealing with information. He writes on a blog, and someone quoted verbatim another person’s article with no citation. Pat said when you see the government running amuck, it’s hard to see role models.

Anita said that the obstacles listed from Fall ’05 are all very big in English Skills. The attitude is the only thing that brings her down when teaching. A student told her that someone said he feels like an idiot when he works with ESL students. Some of the ESL students actually have degrees in their native country.

Jodi went to Mind, Supermind a few weeks ago, and they were meditating on this topic of responsibility. When students act this way day in and day out, it is good to treat people like they want to be responsible, and are suffering because they are not. Pat noted some students do not want to be lifelong learners; they just want to obtain a degree and get out of school. Marilynn said she thinks some of that is just being immature, and relates to an inability to express themselves. People aren’t thinking of being lifelong learners; they just want to make it to 25. Gerry said she heard a year ago at a conference from a neuroscientist that the brain, the frontal lobe, is not fully developed until 25 years old. It has to do with executive, self-monitoring functions. We are expecting them to come with an awareness of how to monitor their actions; there are degrees of where they have the awareness, and need to be reminded of it. Curtis said his word for it is ignorance. Students traditionally have been more liberal than their faculty; I have 20 year olds who have a totally worked out political scheme. He related a story about being criticized for “teaching Political Science” by students who did not agree with his lecture content. Marilynn said that is a high level of engagement. Another student complained that her C grade was low because she did not use dates in her final; he role models using dates. Marilynn said that was disruptive behavior. Curt concluded that the biggest casualty is trust in the relationship.

Nina saw an LA Times article (March 2), “Egos Inflating Over Time”, by a woman who wrote a book about why students are more assertive and yet more discontent now. They do not trust that we have their best interests at heart. Anita told a story about how a parent came to her class to clarify what was happening with his daughter. Marilynn reminded us not to engage parents. Jodi commented that trust is important between faculty and students. Nina told a story of a student who demonstrated a negative attitude toward the discipline of art. Evan related that a student used his private law background to try to influence the nursing staff.

Kenley asked the committee, “Is it truly that the student body has changed, or is it that you are getting older? I’m a different generation than you. I notice as I age that I have a little harder time relating to 18 years, even though I think I do a good job.”
Nina said there is more of an entitlement. Marilynn said the parents now go directly to John Romo, who sends it to Jack, and so on; you find out there’s been a huge miscommunication. This very public chain happens again and again. Would each complaint have gone to the president ten years ago? Usually the attorneys and donors do this.

Curt addressed Kenley’s question. We have two differences. We are recruiting a new group of students and we have more help now (ESL, etc.) so these students can be well educated, and this is a good thing. These are not the students who Curt was referring to earlier. Another group demonstrates inflexibility in thinking, and they shouldn’t be, given their backgrounds. Both these groups are really different from Curt’s previous students. He related a story about a student who is an ideologue and was not open to anything new at such a young age.

Gerry said she thinks that is why critical thinking is important. What are the implications of the conclusion, the outcome of your reasoning, the belief, the decision? Jim Chesher said that is one of the most important parts of the reasoning process. People who have not developed or experienced a wider, richer notion of critical thinking may get stuck on an opinion that isn’t substantiated. Part of CT is listening to someone who has a different point of view. Dyed in the wool Republications often are open to discussion and can see another point of view, even though they might not change their own. But for people who identify with a particular point of view, if you challenge it, they don’t have enough of the other kind of rich CT that can help them to understand opposing points of view. Nina said students need to be taught to be open to ideas, think it through, and it seems students are more ingrained in their own opinion nowadays, which becomes their Magna Carta.

Jodi said the article was pointing to My Space and all the examples of things where you can talk about yourself, rather than answer questions. There was a big push in the past to increase everyone’s self-esteem, including “I’m so special” songs in kindergarten, and even giving everyone a trophy for a race, not just the winners. Marilynn said emphatically, “We should stomp ‘em all down!”

Kenley said he always teaches critical thinking. We can still have my opinion about things, and think critically. I may be wrong, so I need to be open to others. Mark said to search for Allen November on the web; he deals with truth. (Website is Novemberlearning.com) He engages people in a study of sources. For example, websites pretend to be something they are not in order to teach a chosen point of view. Curt said it is antithetical to education in a free world.

Nina suggested maybe we should be asking students about why are you here on the first day. Kenley said it might not be fair because the only reason he had to take English was to get into the UC system. But Nina’s idea is good to foster a discussion on the first day, said Mark; students have to think – they don’t have to agree. Jodi said the model we live under is a military one; she tries to engage students through positive means rather than force things on them.

You all may not realize the effect you have on your students, Gerry offered. They are learning from what you are role modeling, and what you hear may be a reaction coming from past habits and may not be an indication of what they are really taking with them in the future. In a sense an analogy might be with the receptive and expressive language; a baby is taking more in long before she can speak. Students take it in, and it may all come together at a point in the future when synthesis occurs. I hope you all feel very confident about what you are role modeling.

Marilynn wants to invite a keynote speaker who is an Ethiopian student who graduated from Harvard to be our Dorantes Lecturer. He talks to high school students about what you get out of school and how to move ahead. He gave the most powerful inspiring talk to educators. Gerry asked faculty to send to her any comments and ideas about how the student success initiative they are close to embodies responsibility.

Distance Education Plan 2006-2009
Kenley took the lead, and explained that the document is going through several committees and needs to go to the Senate this semester. It has been around since last summer. Gerry shared what she talked about with Jerry Pike: under Assumptions, first bulleted line, eliminate “are of equal importance and stature”; change “leading” to “lead”. Gerry said she thought the document was well thought out, although she is not an online instructor.

Pat commented that there needs to be a consistency of training because not everyone goes through training. “ITC made recommendations on number 7 and it was changed a bit,” said Kenley. Marilynn noted that we have a process and procedure everyone needs to follow. To present an online class, you need to go through that process. There is a little loophole in that process we need to close. Pat expressed that she would like to see it in this document since it is the basis of the policies and procedures; Marilynn said it is also part of the curriculum process, but she does not object to including it. Mark would like to see it included.

Curt said we need to translate our language into reality. The obligations faculty have should be clarified and apply to all instructors. Consistent safeguards should ensure that all classes have the same integrity, especially in writing. Marilynn said COI will come up with an evaluation so these issues can be addressed. Marilynn said we have similar problems with all classes; she is aware of this.

Gerry suggested changing language under #5 (get rid of “that” and enter “to” before “complete”. Kenley gave a background to that one. Assessment tools are available but we cannot mandate they take it.

Gerry said she has an issue: the high quality of online courses impressed her, and the fact that they have so many modalities included. Students who are quiet or shy, or students who have processing deficits in the verbal area, may be more able to be a part of a discussion if it written rather than oral. The other side of it is that nothing takes the place of the human element in the face-to-face interaction; a quality exists that is hard to measure. So perhaps we can bridge this gap by considering integrating more of the qualitative measures that Alice talked about in the online courses. For example, Curt and Evan have talked about how valuable anecdotal evidence is. I don’t know if we are trying to impose too much of a perfectionist standard.
Mark said you can’t make different standards for online versus face-to-face classes. Bramucci won’t let them into the class unless they pass the assessment. Can we require it? “It is a limitation on enrollment,” said Marilynn, “that you don’t go into a Marine Diving class without the skills. The Chancellor’s Office gave him an award for doing it, so it must be okay.” Kenley said, “We are talking about a limitation to enrollment for the same class.” Marilynn reported that some have argued it isn’t. UCLA will not let people enroll until they’ve passed such an evaluation.

Marilynn summarized the three issues as the following:
1) What happens to a course once it’s gone through Curriculum and it is passed on to the instructor?
2) What happens when a course has gone through Curriculum and the instructor is not going to teach it anymore; it needs to be redeveloped.
3) What happens if I give you my course to teach this semester, you make changes, and the following semester, I want to teach it? Where does it stop being the first instructor’s course, given all the work others have put into it?
These issues are on the table in COI. Pat said they need to be recorded to maintain ethical standards. Marilynn said she is working with Ignacio to have a check off about where an instructor received his or her training to teach online. Kenley will put Pat’s suggestion into the document.

Nina M. responded to the in the face-to-face interaction issue. She wants to achieve a balance. A portion of a course could be online, and then you have to make an appointment with the Writing Center tutor to discuss it in person. This could help to bring a relationship to the online student. Have an oral examination one-to-one to review the materials. Could the OIA work with the Writing Center? Marilynn and Kenley let us know that some classes do not have students in this region. Gerry suggested that perhaps it could be an optional mode that is offered.

“Edutainment is a danger too,” said Jodi. Marilynn said we don’t hold online instruction to a higher standard. As classes become evaluated, there is an element of trust that you are talking about can be addressed. We need to be learning more about the great things colleagues are doing. Gerry agreed that in discussing specific problems, we need to put it in the context of the whole, which is largely positive. Marilynn said it becomes a matter of territory. Curt said if a colleague is not doing what s/he should do, the dept has to deal with it. If advice is ignored that is given by the dept, then there should be a way to test for it.
Marilynn said that the COI Committee has been very clear in this process. These courses live inside of the dept and they have the responsibility to ensure the courses are solid. That is why it is not called the Online College, explained Mark and Kenley; there is not an online dept. Marilynn will ask dept chairs about their plan for online courses. It should be a discussion in every dept.

Next meeting: Monday, April 16, 3:00 p.m, in SS240E.

CTL Minutes Archives/ SBCC